Incidents of human trafficking drop in Afghanistan

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Public awareness drives on human trafficking have helped in a decline in the number of incidents of human trafficking in the country in comparison to the past years, Emergency Relief and Development Authority (ERDA) said on Tuesday.

Ahmad Shabir Sapi, head of the ERDA, while addressing a public awareness gathering in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, said the meeting had been invited to give more information to the authorities dealing with human trafficking.

He said that the common people are also invited to these gatherings in order for them to gain better information on the subject and the practice of human trafficking.

“Afghanistan has improved its ranking according to the US surveys conducted on human trafficking,” he said.

Afghanistan has been promoted to the tier-two category, which implies that some incidents of human trafficking were still taking place in the country.

He assured addressing human trafficking incidents in the far-flung areas by saying anti-human trafficking strategies had been organised and help from the local administrations would be sought for their implementation.

Nangarhar Youth Affairs Director Matiullah Ahmadzai also said that great work has been done on the information campaign on human trafficking and now almost every individual is well informed about the issue.

The practice of baad marriages, forced hard child labour, the forcible use of children and women as sex slaves and other cases of harassment are called human trafficking.

Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Person defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.